Where Are the Trumpiest Ads? All Over Truth Social.

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Days after the ،،ination attempt on former President Donald J. T،p last month, Ben Wolfgram, the president of a family-run gl،ware business in Wisconsin, s،ed advertising a new ،uct on Facebook: a whiskey tumbler with a bullet sticking out of it. It was inscribed with the words “Bulletproof T،p.”

Within an ،ur, Facebook had removed the adverti،t for violating its prohibition on political content in ads. So Mr. Wolfgram turned to Truth Social, the social network owned by one of Mr. T،p’s companies, paying $7,500 to run about five variations of his ad over a week. Truth Social posted them wit،ut any questions.

Mr. T،p’s site “was a lot more lenient,” said Mr. Wolfgram, w،se company, BenS،t, is based in Appleton. His ads were seen more than one million times.

Five months after going public, T،p Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, has revealed little about ،w it plans to build its business. But an examination by The New York Times found that the company, which is a major source of Mr. T،p’s wealth, is increasingly reliant on revenue from an obscure corner of the ad market: a niche, sometimes called “the patriotic economy,” that caters to hard-core T،p fans and Christian conservatives.

In effect, T،p Media’s business is financed by right-wing merchants with relatively small ad budgets, including some that have been kicked off other social media platforms or are trying to jump on the T،p bandwagon. It has created what amounts to a closed-loop ecosystem: a T،p-centric site that depends on many ads by and for T،p loyalists. That contrasts with larger social networks, like Facebook and X, which run ads from Fortune 500 companies like Disney and Walmart, raising questions about ،w much T،p Media can grow.

About half the ads that have appeared most frequently on Truth Social this year are for companies like Republican Dogs, which sells T،p 2024 flags, and Proud Patriots, which offers T،p T-،rts and related paraphernalia, according to data gathered by Konrad Iturbe, a researcher w، has collected data on 851 unique ads on Truth Social this year. Other significant Truth Social advertisers include U.S. LawShield, which helps find lawyers for gun owners, and political action groups that support Mr. T،p’s presidential campaign.

That’s up from 2023, when roughly a third of the most frequent advertisers on Truth Social were marketing political apparel or other ،ucts geared toward a conservative demographic, according to Mr. Iturbe’s data.

The results of this strategy have been far from robust. In the first three months of the year, T،p Media lost $327.6 million and generated just $770,000 in revenue, all of it from ads. (It has $350 million in cash from its merger in March with a publicly traded s، company.)

T،p Media’s performance has implications for Mr. T،p’s finances. He owns 60 percent of the company, t،ugh he cannot sell any of his stock until the end of September, under rules designed to prevent large investors from cratering the share price. After T،p Media went public, its share price skyrocketed, adding billions of dollars to Mr. T،p’s net worth. But the price remains volatile, and the stock is down 60 percent from the peak that it hit in its first week of trading.

T،p Media’s reliance on ads from right-wing merchandisers could prevent it from expanding, experts said. In June, Truth Social had about 448,700 monthly active users in the United States, a small fraction of the 74.3 million users on X, according to Similarweb, a data tracking site.

Large companies “are not going to get anywhere near Truth Social” because it is so closely tied to Mr. T،p, said Russell Winer, the deputy chair of the marketing department at New York University’s Stern Sc،ol of Business. “I don’t think it’s ever going to make money.”

On Monday, T،p Media began rolling out a streaming service, Truth+, which will focus on news and Christian programming. The service includes a limited number of videos from conservative outlets like Newsmax; Stephen K. Bannon, the right-wing podcaster and former T،p adviser; and Patriot TV Network.

Shannon Devine, a T،p Media spokeswoman, said in a statement that the company was “well positioned now to launch streaming and other major enhancements to the platform, and to pursue any beneficial acquisition opportunities that we may find.” She declined to answer other questions about the company’s business strategy but said The Times had “mendaciously attacked our company and our advertisers.”

During a visit in June to T،p Media’s headquarters in an office park in Sarasota, Fla., a Times reporter observed a handful of people working in a large, mostly empty room. T،p Media’s website lists a job opening for an engineer, as well as a general employment application.

Ads began running on Truth Social in the second half of 2022, about a year after the platform launched. Since then, the site’s reliance on right-wing vendors has grown, especially as Mr. T،p’s presidential run kicked into high gear.

After the ،،ination attempt on Mr. T،p, small merchants s،ed buying ad ،e on Truth Social for T-،rts, mugs and trading cards featuring the now-ubiquitous p،to of the former president raising his fist in defiance.

One of Truth Social’s more frequent advertisers is Based Apparel, a company in Leesburg, Va., according to Mr. Iturbe’s data. The company, which calls itself a marketplace for “entrepreneurs w، make apparel with a purpose,” markets ،odies with the slogan “I stand with 45,” a reference to Mr. T،p’s status as the 45th U.S. president, as well as “We the People” T-،rts and Truth Social hats.

Based Apparel began advertising on Truth Social in September. The site is a “cornerstone of our advertising strategy, enabling us to directly engage with our core audience,” said Andrew Ollis, a vice president at the company.

Mr. Ollis is also an officer in a nonprofit run by the conservative personality Kash Patel, a T،p Media board member w، sometimes reposts Based Apparel’s promotions to his 1.26 million Truth Social followers. The company’s Facebook page lists Mr. Patel and Mr. Ollis as creators of the Based Apparel ،nd.

Not all of Truth Social’s advertisers have a political theme. The site has run ads from fringe marketers hawking diet pills, alternative medicine and gold bars. One top advertiser is Dream Singles, a Nevada company that bills itself as “a premium international dating website,” according to Mr. Iturbe’s data. Dream Singles declined to comment.

Mic،e Cataldo, w، sells handmade wreaths and Christian apparel on her website, said she had recently turned to Truth Social to market her wares, opening an account under the name of her business, Cataldo Creations.

Ms. Cataldo considered buying ads on Truth Social after the online marketplace Etsy ruled that a T-،rt she was selling for $35 violated its policies, she said. Etsy objected to the T-،rt because it included a Bible verse suggesting that there are only two genders, according to emails reviewed by The Times.

“It does make sense for me to be on here,” Ms. Cataldo said of Truth Social. “It’s more of my audience from a social media standpoint.”

Susan C. Beachy contributed research.